Volleyball Crosses Over into South Region Matches

Barry prepares for a pair of critical South Region matches this weekend to augment its postseason chances. Photo by Jason Roberts

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry's volleyball team has a chance to augment its case for a potential postseason bid when the Bucs play a pair of Alabama schools Friday and Saturday in the South Region Crossover at Nova Southeastern.

Barry (10-9) plays North Alabama (7-10) at 5 p.m. Friday in Davie, Fla. The Buccaneers finish the two-day South Region Crossover with a 4 p.m. Saturday match against West Alabama (9-11). North Alabama is coming off a five-set win over West Alabama on Sunday.

"We are looking forward to playing North Alabama and West Alabama," Bucs second-year coach Steve Hendricks said. "They are two strong programs that will test our ability to score points on offense and play well on defense."

North Alabama has won four straight matches entering this weekend's competition in Davie. Priscilla Massengale leads the Lions with 210 kills, and is one of only two players who've started in all 17 matches. The other is Jessica Ronyak, who has 122 kills and a team-best 34 blocks. Cara Gregg has 153 kills and 24 blocks. Both have 11 aces this season. Hope Rayburn is the Lions' top setter with 506 assists. Caroline Neisler has 229 digs.

West Alabama's Chanel Davis leads the Tigers with 225 kills and 49 assists. Tazra Pitts has 180 kills, a team-high nine solo blocks and 45 total blocks. Cynthia Smith has a team-high 225 digs, and Chelsea Payne has 707 assists.

Barry is coming off a pair of losses in conference play last weekend, and has had the entire week following mid-terms to prepare for the important region contests.

The Buccaneers are within three wins of matching last year's season total victory mark with 11 regular season matches on the schedule. Barry is hitting .208 as a team, while opponents are attacking at a .193 pace. The Bucs have 886 kills to its opponents' 914. The difference is Barry has committed 386 hitting errors, while the opposition has racked up 440.

Barry has 119 service errors, compared to the opponents' 97. Barry has outblocked teams 136.5 to 123.5.

The Bucs are 4-2 in three-set matches and 3-1 in five-setters. Barry has been most effective in the second and five sets, having outscored opponents 434-415 in the second set and 53-50 in the third, while claiming three of the four fifth set matches that led to victories.